Not so personal: The benefits of social identity ad appeals with activation in advertising

Selecting the most effective advertising appeals is a major challenge for marketers and advertisers. This research addresses this challenge by examining the moderating effect of activation, an advertising technique that invites individuals to engage in a motor activity in order to reveal the ad message, on ad appeal type (name, social identity, and general appeals) in leveraging ad evaluations. The results of three studies show that ad appeals referring to individuals' social identity, especially in the presence of activation, enhance product evaluations and actual product choices. The findings also suggest that privacy concerns play a mediating role in determining these effects.